Publius Virgillius Elmore was born in the United States of America in 1789. When he moved to Belleville, he worked as a Deputy Surveyor to chart Hastings County as it became incorporated. He had a significant role in forming Hastings, as demonstrated when he started surveying and constructing roads in Lake Township in North Hastings. In an 1829 petition, he signed for Prince Edward County (where he resided) to become a district. In the 1830s, P.L.S. John Emerson was articled to Elmore'. Elmore married a local woman in Shannonville, Ontario - but was widowed prior to 1853. He died in 1857 and was buried in Belleville.

John James Haslett was born on June 17, 1811 at Sanfield House, Tyrone County, Ireland, the child of Matthew Haslett and Sarah McCrae. He received his education to be a surveyor in Ireland, and later when on to survey England and the south coast of Ireland. Around 1842, he came to Canada. After six months of training with P.L.S. John Emerson, he became a Provincial Land Surveyor. He then moved to Belleville, Ontario and began surveying Upper Canada. In February 1851, he married Frances Colhoun Woods. He died in Belleville on January 21, 1878 leaving his wife, four sons and three daughters.

John Pierce was born at Pembroke, Ontario in 1918. He attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and graduated in 1941 with a B.Sc. (Eng.). The following year he served with the Royal Canadian Engineers Italian and European campaigns (1942-1945). In this role, he received the Military Cross. During his surveying career John sat on many Ontario Land Survey boards and completed numerous surveys of Ontario areas. He died in 2003.

Preston John North was born in Brigg, Lincolnshire, England, the child of Frank and Jane North. He married Martha Maria Little in Brigg on 15 June 1884 and the couple had at least eight children. In 1915 North was living in Kingston, Ontario, where he married Chloe Ann Lalond on 19 June. He signed up in Deseronto to serve in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in February 1916, claiming to be 44 (he was 57). He was returned to Canada in 1917 as being over age. North died in Deseronto in September 1944.

Christopher Paulus Devos was born in London, England, on 4 May 1892. He served in the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force as a flight instructor with 84 Canadian Training Squadron during the First World War, based at Camp Mohawk near Deseronto, Ontario, and Camp Taliaferro near Fort Worth in Texas. He died on 6 June 1962.

Ken Brown was born in Meaford, Ontario, the child of Walter Brown and Peggy (Kent). He worked as a teacher and in his retirement he moved to Deseronto, Ontario, where he looked after the town's archives from 2001 to 2007.

John Maracle Kenwendeshon was a member of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, the child of Cornelius Maracle (born 1830) and Nancy (Hill, born 1834). He married Julia Hill Thompson in London, Ontario, on November 20, 1879. Kenwendeshon was the first member of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte to qualify as a medical doctor.

Kenwendeshon and Julia had a daughter, Lillian, who was born on November 26, 1880 and married John Ross Stewart on January 14, 1904. They also had a son, John Albert ‘Bert’, born in 1882 in Roscommon, Michigan. Bert married Edna Leslie Hill on August 9, 1920. From the census records, Lillian seems to have lived with Julia’s mother and sisters in London (Henrietta, Caroline and Georgina Thompson), while Bert lived with Kewendeshon’s father, Cornelius, in Deseronto and the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.

Mary Jane Noble was born on 10 September 1878 in Belfast, Ireland, the child of William Noble and Ellen (Stuart). She arrived in Canada in 1882 with her family and was working as a dressmaker in Deseronto, Ontario, in 1901. She married Dennis Pratt on 14 June 1916 and died in Adolphustown on 24 December 1945. She was buried in Deseronto.

Deseronto Public Library began as the Deseronto Mechanics Institute on 27 October 1885. Dr John Newton was elected as the President of the Institute. On 11 November 1885 the first Library Committee was estabished, with Ebenezer Arthur Rixen as the Librarian and Miss Millie Anderson as Assistant Librarian. In 1896 the Institute became a Public Library under the terms of the Free Libraries Act.

Herbert 'Burt' Rathbun was born in Deseronto in 1861, the child of Hugo Burghardt Rathbun and Louisa (Storm). He married Agnes Bell in Belleville on February 12th, 1884. They had three children: Helen (born 1885), John (born 1886) and Leo (born 1890). In 1891 the family were living in Deseronto, where their household included a cook, a housemaid, a nurse and a coachman. By 1897 they were living in Bridge Street, Belleville, which is where Burt died of tuberculosis in Belleville on April 4th of that year.